Clamps and glue

[Mike Henderson]

I use the side of an old chisel. The "edge" of the side is usually pretty sharp and works well for scraping the old glue off.

Mike

[Robert Engel]

If I could ever remember the packing tape I would do it, but it also keeps you from being able to wipe the glue off.

Its really no big deal. I just slide the clamp head back and forth several times that usually strips off any dried glue.

[Pat Barry]

I lay some newspaper over the bars beforehand and that seems to work pretty well as a drip guard.

[Marc Burt]

Wow. Some of you are hard-core.

I don't do anything to the clamps. They all still function fine. If there is enough glue squeeze out on the bar I've always just been able to chip it off by riding the clamp head over it. I also stand my glue-ups vertically and set them on the floor after clamp up (k-bodies) so I guess that probably minimizes the glue on the bar issue although I just do it to free up bench space.

[Prashun Patel]

I used to be in the 'run the clamp head over the bar' camp. Tt works fairly well - for a while. Eventually, there were some drips that needed a little scraping. Also, it does give you stained bars after a while. Eventually, the bars didn't slide as smoothly. To be fair, it never stopped the clamps from working completely. However, on large glue ups, I want to be able to move those heads quickly and smoothly and swiftly. Dirty bars sometimes added minor speed bumps.

Now if I can just practice what I preach on my pipe clamps....

[John Lanciani]

Keeps the glue from sticking, no negative impact on clamping ability.